Food Security Issues

Do you believe we are facing a food crisis? A recent issue of Grinning Planet described these six emerging issues that seem to describe a coming food crisis:

ENERGY SHORTAGES- largescale modern agriculture uses enormous amounts of fuel for farm machinery, fertilizing, shipping, and processing. High fuel prices are reflected in high food prices.

BIOFUEL PRODUCTION which may divert corn and soybeans from the food stream and put pressure on food prices.

GLOBAL WARMING which may cause droughts, floods and other bad weather which hurts farmers.

FRESH WATER SHORTAGES. Globally, up to 80% of fresh water is used for irrigation.Water tables are falling in many countries. In addition, groundwater contamination with toxic waste is a growing problem.

ECONOMIC CHAOS. The effects of an economic depression are obvious to people who already struggle to buy food. Farmers and food suppliers would also suffer in hard economic times, making it even harder for consumers to purchase food.

POPULATION LEVELS. Total grain reserves in the world are at their lowest point in decades. Arable land is also limited. Demand for meat protein, which requires much more land to produce than vegetable protein, adds to this problem, especially as incomes rise in developing countries and those people add more meat to their diets.

What do you think? Are you concerned about any of these things?

Are you doing anything to secure your food supply? If so, what?

Welcome

Welcome to our community garden blog. We'd love to hear from you. We are growing vegetables and herbs in inner city Atlanta. Where do you live, and what are you growing?

Take a look at our garden website. We've got lots of pictures there, and lots of links to organic gardening information. Share your favorite gardening information and websites with us, either on this blog or by adding comments to the pages on our garden website.